Month: August 2017

Chrissa McFarlane is an entrepreneur with a passion for creating cutting-edge healthcare products that transform the face of healthcare delivery in the US and abroad. Her commitment to transforming healthcare is rooted in her leadership, planning and organizational skills enhanced by prior endeavors. She’s helped create breakthrough digital health companies that provides services to companies such as Tumblr, Blue Apron, Casper and Meetup. ]

Chrissa launched Patientory after seeing the need in the market for more personalized care. Patientory connects patients with their doctors, caregivers and a community of individuals with similar health issues. The company was recently ranked a top 5 app empowering patients in the world and is making waves on the digital health scene using the security of blockchain technology.

Her Philosophy

The sky is the limit. Break boundaries. Break barriers.

Her Advice to Aspiring Female Entrepreneurs

Step out of your comfort zone and don’t be afraid. There’s really no failure when you start a business. It’s just learning from your mistakes.

Umaimah is the Founder & CEO of VIDA. She grew up in rural Pakistan and Saudi Arabia – with no access to formal education most of her life – but a deep passion for fashion and design and a drive to make a difference in the world. She charted her way to Cornell University and later Harvard, and built a career in technology, working with a highly select portfolio of game-changing tech companies and managing and growing million dollar businesses.

Umaimah is also the founder Dreamfly, a global initiative that connects communities in conflict around common causes through education, exposure, and empowerment. She started by building a school in her home village, empowering citizens in the US to connect with and support children in Pakistan, and later expanded into Afghanistan, Rwanda, India, and Colombia.

In 2014, Umaimah’s strong belief that fashion can be responsible and accessible got her to take the leap and found VIDA – a global platform that brings together creatives and manufacturers from around the world to create unique, original, art inspired apparel and accessories. A curator of creative voices, VIDA represents art and culture from New York to LA, Mumbai to Madrid, and Tokyo to Tel Aviv, bringing to market products that are made responsibly and that help break the chain of poverty in the world of fashion.

Her Philosophy

Make life matter.

Design your own path. Design your own life. You’re in charge. You’re in power of your own life.

Her Advice to Aspiring Female Entrepreneurs

Start with what you believe in, what you really want to do. Know that getting started is going to be one of the hardest things. A lot of times, we do question ourselves – maybe we didn’t do this right – maybe we aren’t smart enough… Don’t do that. You can feel it but let it go and persevere knowing that entrepreneurs get smarter with every mistake that they make…

Shunta Grant is a lawyer turned entrepreneur. She created Because of Zoe Designs out of her own need to give her daughter unique hair bows and headbands. Sold both online and in retail stores across the country, Because of Zoe Designs is known for its modern, colorful and well made handmade hair bows for girls. In addition to running a thriving products based business, Shunta is also a business educator, teaching creatives how to joyfully build businesses through her online teaching and her new show, the Business Life & Joy podcast. Needless to say, we had a great conversation.

Her Philosophy

Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at something that doesn’t really matter.

Know your why – why is it that you’re doing what you’re doing – this is the best place to start

Her Advice to Aspiring Female Entrepreneurs

Figure out your why. Figure out what you want your life to look like and then make your business fit within that. Don’t do it the other way around where people figure out what do I want to do and how will I jam my life to fit into that. This is the source of frustration. What do you want your life to look like and then work backwards. What parts of your business do you have to build to get there. Find that beautiful harmony between your business and your life.